COLUMN: Civil responsibilities important to know
As citizens of the United States, we have been given a great responsibility. We have been blessed to live in a land of freedom, and it is up to us to understand and defend the principles upon which freedom depends. We are indebted to those who have gone before us and those who are yet to come to preserve the freedom we have been given. This freedom was bought by blood, tears and sacrifice, and we must be diligent in preserving it.
The great safeguard of our freedom is the Constitution. Because of this, it is our duty to understand and uphold our Constitution, in the tradition of our Founding Fathers. That document was intended to direct our government, ensuring the government would carry out the duties necessary for the preservation of our freedom and restrict the government from engaging in activities that would limit that freedom.
Our Founding Fathers understood the people would ultimately be the safeguard of the Constitution. Washington taught, “The power under the Constitution will always be in the people. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, the servants can, and undoubtedly will, be recalled.”
Next month we have the opportunity to help decide who will be the candidates running for president in this year’s election. In this election, as in any other, it is important we learn of the candidates and their positions, as well as their performance in any previous offices of power and responsibility. In making the decision as to who we will vote for, it is essential we hold each candidate to the standard of the Constitution. We must ask ourselves if a candidate has shown a clear understanding of our Constitution and if he or she is dedicated to governing his or her actions by its guidelines while in office. Mere lip service to the Constitution is not enough. We must be careful to ensure we are not blinded to a candidate’s ignorance of, or disregard for, the principles of the Constitution, because of other qualities such as that candidate’s religion, experience or accomplishments as a businessman. It is also important to remember that when selecting those who will represent and make decisions for us, our allegiance must be to principles, not to individuals or parties.
Once our chosen representatives are in office, it is our duty to ensure they remain loyal to the principles of the Constitution. We need to respect the office they hold, but hold them personally accountable for their actions while in that office. Theodore Roosevelt once declared, “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country … Every man who parrots the cry of ‘stand by the President’ without adding the proviso ‘so far as he serves the Republic’ takes an attitude as essentially unmanly as that of any Stuart royalist who championed the doctrine that the King could do no wrong. No self-respecting and intelligent free man could take such an attitude.”
It is our duty to learn the foundational principles of our nation. We must study candidates for political office carefully to ensure we are supporting individuals who understand the Constitution, and who will uphold it. Once a candidate is in office, we must ensure they honor their oath to protect and defend our nation’s Constitution, in the tradition of our Founding Fathers. It is our civic responsibility to do so.
Colby Lyons is a senior majoring in law and constitutional studies. Comments can be sent to him at c.lyons@aggiemail.usu.edu